The challenge of fried chicken lies in cooking the fowl without scorching the crust. Lee's solution: first gently poach the chicken in Filipino-inspired broth with adobo. The fowl then fries southern-style with a buttermilk and flour coating. Here, the dish at Fried Chicken & Waffles.
Dan Dry/Power Creative

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For several rising-star young chefs, fusion isn't just a cuisine -- it's in their DNA. These taste translators with multi-ethnic heritages showcased globetrotting dishes at the Culinary Institute of America's Worlds of Flavor conference in California's Napa Valley in mid-November.

King Phojanakong of New York City's Kuma Inn and Umi Nom

The son of a Filipino mother and Thai father, Chef King Phojanakong grew up in New York City. Both parents were ardent home cooks. "It was funny; sometimes they'd cook each other's native foods," he recalls. "I always knew something was different." At his New York restaurants Kuma Inn and Umi Nom, menus mingle -- and sometimes merge -- Filipino, Thai and Southeast Asian dishes. For example, Phojanakong pairs pork belly adobo tacos with a Thai chili-lime sauce. "It's all about finding the right balance," he says.

Christian Puglisi of Copenhagen's Relae

Half Italian and half Norwegian, Chef Christian Puglisi was born in Sicily and moved to Denmark at age 7. "I'm an immigrant. I think a big part of gastronomy involves taking something from one culture and moving it somewhere else," says Puglisi, chef/owner of Relæ in Copenhagen, the only Michelin-starred restaurant that is organic. Cross-cultural creativity enlivens dishes such as dried turnips reincarnated as pasta, sautéed with butter and shallots, and topped with shaved horseradish and toasted mustard seeds.

Hajime Kasuga of Lima, Peru

In 1899, the first Japanese immigrants arrived in Peru. Nearly 10,000 miles from their homeland, they established Nikkei cuisine, which fuses Japanese techniques with Peruvian foods and vice versa. A third-generation Japanese-Peruvian based in Lima, Chef Hajime Kasuga presents Nikkei with a lofty elegance. His dipping sauce for sushi might use Peruvian hot peppers, while tiradito, a Peruvian spin on sashimi, adds accents of ginger and local corn. "Also in Peru, ceviche-style sushi is becoming very popular," Kasuga remarks. Stay tuned ... Kasuga plans to open a new restaurant in Lima soon.

Sang-Hoon Degeimbre of L'Air du Temps

Sang-Hoon Degeimbre's story starts with his birth in Korea and adoption at age 5 by a Belgian couple. Today, he is chef/owner of L'Air du Temps in Liernu, Belgium, which holds two Michelin stars. "For good food you need excellent products, techniques and emotion," says Degeimbre. "Emotion means bringing in something human -- knowing me." Five years ago he visited Korea for the first time as an adult -- an encounter that changed his culinary outlook. His menu might feature ravioli stuffed with snails and napped with a sauce of butter and ssamjiang, a spicy Korean condiment.

Edward Lee of Louisville's 610 Magnolia

"I'm a Korean kid from Brooklyn telling southerners how to make fried chicken," jokes Edward Lee, chef/owner of 610 Magnolia and other restaurants in Louisville, Ky. "Southern cooking is so specific, but so universal. In Korea, there's a fried chicken shack every block." The challenge of fried chicken lies in cooking the fowl without scorching the crust. Lee's solution: first gently poach the chicken in Filipino-inspired broth with adobo. The fowl then fries southern-style with a buttermilk and flour coating.

Editor's note: The 2013 Worlds of Flavor conference was actually in mid-November, not December as previously reported.